Cataract Surgery

[Rod Sheridan]

Friday afternoon I had cataract surgery on my left eye.

This morning the world was bright, crisp and in 3D, something it hasn’t been in awhile.

Modern technology really is indistinguishable from magic.

Regards, Rod

[ChrisA Edwards]

Yes it was like going from 720 to ultra 4K resolution. Congrats

[Mike Henderson]

I had one eye done. Surgery is no problem. It did take quite a while for me to get good distance vision. I told the doc that I wanted good distance vision in that eye but right after surgery, I had good middle vision. Over time, my distance vision in that eye improved.

It's a lot better than cataracts but not as good as the vision I had at 20 years of age.

Mike

[Edit: I'll add that I came out of the surgery with some astigmatism in that eye, which I had never had before. Not bad, but I got glasses to correct it and wear the glasses while driving. I am a bit picky about vision, however.]

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I had one eye done. Surgery is no problem. It did take quite a while for me to get good distance vision. I told the doc that I wanted good distance vision in that eye but right after surgery, I had good middle vision. Over time, my distance vision in that eye improved.

It's a lot better than cataracts but not as good as the vision I had at 20 years of age.

Mike

I am planning on having cataract surgery mid-summer. I want one eye in distance and one eye close.

Like you Mike, I was 20 last century!:D

[Patty Hann]

I had both eyes done last year, 6 months apart.
Lenses are the same, both for distance (so, yes, I have to wear reading glasses which I never needed prior to the surgery)
Pros: Biggest one is no longer going blind (which is nothing to sneeze at)
Also distance vision is much better (I was myopic) ; I no longer have to wear glasses for myopia.
But I still have small astigmatisms in both eyes, which requires glasses for really crisp distance vision, say for shooting, and for night driving.

Cons: "artifacts" that affect night vision.
The medical term is dysphotopsia. Go here dysphotopsia (https://eyewiki.aao.org/Dysphotopsia)

I hate what it's done to my "seeing" (astronomically speaking)
Left eye is useless for clear viewing ....see below. Thank heavens the right eye was not similarly affected. ***

501633

*** It's a crap shoot predicting how much your night vision will affected.
Most people don't care, but one in three cataract patients will have their night vision negatively affected by haloes, starbursts, streaks, spikes etc.
But there's no way to consistently predict who will get them or to what degree/severity.

[Rob Luter]

I am planning on having cataract surgery mid-summer. I want one eye in distance and one eye close.

That sounds like a recipe for vertigo. A friend had cataract surgery last summer and opted for distance vision in both. He wears readers for up close like most men of a certain age.

[Patty Hann]

That sounds like a recipe for vertigo. A friend had cataract surgery last summer and opted for distance vision in both. He wears readers for up close like most men of a certain age.

It depends on person's brain; some can adapt some can't.

My BF is an ophthalmological surgical nurse.
When a patient opts for a different lens in each eye, they do one eye, then wait several weeks if not months before doing the other eye, to see if the person's brain can adapt.
She said some don't and that the "imbalance" can cause headaches and eye strain.

I had the imbalance for 6 months (because I scheduled my surgeries 6 months apart) and it never bothered me.
And I wasn't even going to do the separate (different) lenses; both my lenses correct for distance only.

[Lee Schierer]

My wife had both eyes done recently and everything is going well. She is very pleased that she can see better in the dark and colors are much more vivid. She had distance vision lenses put in and will likely wear glasses for close vision. She is considering getting progressive lenses with clear for the distance and adjustment for reading.

[Ron Selzer]

Paid 6k for special progressive lenses for my wife when she had her cataract surgery. She could see close to far very easy after surgery, she could not drive after dark. After dark driving slowly got better with time. She now wears glasses to read three years later, distance still very good, she is happy with results.
Ron

[Jim Becker]

I had my right eye done as a follow-up to macular hole surgery. Holy color spectrum, Batman! We really don't realize just how our eyesight "yellows"/warms over time and with only one eye done, it's easy to compare. I honestly cannot wait to get the other one done to get the same color improvement. Unfortunately, that one isn't anywhere close to qualifying for the replacement. LOL

[Patty Hann]

Paid 6k for special progressive lenses for my wife when she had her cataract surgery. She could see close to far very easy after surgery, she could not drive after dark. After dark driving slowly got better with time. She now wears glasses to read three years later, distance still very good, she is happy with results.
Ron
Is her night vision good to where she's fine with driving at night, or is it a case of "I'll do it if I have to but I prefer not to"?
The reason I ask is that my nurse friend said (and I have read it many abstracts) that the progressive lenses have the highest rates of night vision problems (dysphotopsia)
This is due to the structure of the progressive lenses and not a person's eyes or brain (altho' the eyes and brain can make it better or worse.)

[Jim Becker]

I wear progressive lenses and so does Professor Dr. SWMBO. Even my computer glasses (that I have on as I type this) are progressive, but with the majority in the mid-range distance. I have no nighttime issues when driving etc. While The Professor is not driving anymore for medical reasons, she did have some night time issues, but it was largely attributed to the specific eye problems she has. She wore an overlay lens/glasses that specifically dealt with that if she had to drive at night.

[Stan Calow]

I am planning on having cataract surgery mid-summer. I want one eye in distance and one eye close. . . .

Ken I have had this situation naturally, my whole life. Not sure what I'm going to do when my turn for cataract surgery comes up.

[Jerry Bruette]

I am planning on having cataract surgery mid-summer. I want one eye in distance and one eye close.

This is the way my wife's eyes are naturally. She had an optometrist tell her that she's fortunate, some people pay big dollars to have their eyes "fixed" like this.

When I was in my 40's I was on of those people. I had a procedure done, radial something, so I had distance vision in one eye and close vision in the other. The doctor used radio waves to increase the curvature of one lens. The effect wore off after about six years and I had to start wearing cheater glasses for close up reading.

Your brain will adjust to the two different lenses, but your depth perception will be affected.

[Bill Howatt]

I opted for both eyes being setup for distance and I have cheap readers for reading. Dr. said "shouldn't tell you this, but it's all you need" regarding the readers. Even though the readers are necessary my closeup vision without them is much improved too so I don't always need to be putting them on depending on the task.
If I'm in a dark room I see halos around small light sources like the pilot light on the TV etc but zero effect for night driving. I guess it only happens when iris is wide-open in dark room; a little bit of light makes it go away.
Friend had her first one done and said she can't believe how bright and vivid the colors are in that eye - said before it was like looking through the nicotine stained windows in her mothers house.
Optometrist said lens replacement is really a modern miracle. Years ago such sight corrections would have resulted in very thick lens glasses and a limited field of vision.

[Rich Engelhardt]

Friday afternoon I had cataract surgery on my left eye.

This morning the world was bright, crisp and in 3D, something it hasn’t been in awhile.

Modern technology really is indistinguishable from magic.

Regards, RodFor my brother, it ended up being evil black magic.
The butcher screwed up and it cost my brother the sight in one eye.
He's gone to three other doctors trying to put together some sort of legal action against the butcher.
Each one of those three admit he really botched the job and made a mess of things, but, they refuse to be a part of any legal action.

[mike calabrese]

I am nearly 70 and going for the same surgery. There are many factors but specifically the star light condition at night is a known result from the type of lens used.
Basically there are 3 types of lenses
Toric for astigmatism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGtkGDyO6ws

Multifocal for all around distance and close up focus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNVlxfDrD7Q

and what is considered the standard lens single focal for near or far correction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCGpJdRU4Gk

Night halos are common with toric and guaranteed with the multifocal lenses from everything I have looked into no pun intended :cool:
calabrese55

[Patty Hann]

I am nearly 70 and going for the same surgery. There are many factors but specifically the star light condition at night is a known result from the type of lens used.
Basically there are 3 types of lenses
Toric for astigmatism https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGtkGDyO6ws

Multifocal for all around distance and close up focus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNVlxfDrD7Q

and what is considered the standard lens single focal for near or far correction https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCGpJdRU4Gk

Night halos are common with toric and guaranteed with the multifocal lenses from everything I have looked into no pun intended :cool:
calabrese55
You got it exactly right.
The single focal lens has the lowest probability of causing night vision problem, but [unfortunately] not "no probability."
It is why I chose the single focal lenses.
But mine still caused problems in my left eye. It's slightly annoying when driving, but really annoying for observing.

The other lens related cause is that for at last the last 15(?) years all the lenses are the folding type which requires a smaller incision for insertion.
That makes it easier to insert and reduces the chances for infection.
But those folding lenses also have squared off edges whereas the older, non folding ones had more rounded edges.

Anyone who knows about lenses (or optics) knows that sharp edges cause stray light refraction, and that is what causes the increased ""dysphotopsia" that is much more apparent at night with car-lights, streetlights etc.

The lens "physics" for multifocals and torics (toric lenses correct astigmatisms) can exacerbate the "stray light" refraction problem.

[Jerome Stanek]

I wear progressive lenses and so does Professor Dr. SWMBO. Even my computer glasses (that I have on as I type this) are progressive, but with the majority in the mid-range distance. I have no nighttime issues when driving etc. While The Professor is not driving anymore for medical reasons, she did have some night time issues, but it was largely attributed to the specific eye problems she has. She wore an overlay lens/glasses that specifically dealt with that if she had to drive at night.

I think they are talking about progressive cataract lenses not glasses

[Jim Becker]

I think they are talking about progressive cataract lenses not glasses
Ah...I missed that.

------
My Dr. and I discussed splitting near/far as I had already had LASIK in 2003 and had good far vision, but in the end, I decided to stay with optimized for distance. I do wear glasses as previously noted, but they primarily take care of very near to mid-range vision. I'm near 20/20 in both eyes for distance.

[Doug Garson]

I had cataract surgery about ten years ago and went with the multifocal lens. Best decision of my life, wish I could of had it done decades ago. I wore glasses for short sightedness since I was 12 and sometimes wore contacts for sports. My prescription was at the extreme limit of the available lenses, don't know if stronger lenses are available now. My surgeon was one of the pioneers in multi focal lenses and has a procedure he developed named after him (the Blaylock Procedure). I was one of his first 1000 patients, he has now done over 70,000 procedures. I had both eyes done at the same time, had a minor follow-up laser repair about a year later for some scar tissue. Both my distant and close up vision are good, intermediate distance fair (got computer glasses years ago but never wear them). I recently got glasses for driving but rarely wear them except at night. I get the hallows at night but it's tolerable. A friend had multifocal lenses last year and could not tolerate the hallows had to change lenses. I tried contacts with long and short focus decades ago and could not tolerate them, messed up depth perception and gave me headaches.
Find a surgeon with a good reputation and explore all the options before you decide.

[Patty Hann]

I had cataract surgery about ten years ago and went with the multifocal lens. Best decision of my life, wish I could of had it done decades ago.... My surgeon was one of the pioneers in multi focal lenses and has a procedure he developed named after him (the Blaylock Procedure).....I had both eyes done at the same time, had a minor follow-up laser repair about a year later for some scar tissue. Both my distant and close up vision are good, intermediate distance fair (got computer glasses years ago but never wear them). I recently got glasses for driving but rarely wear them except at night. I get the hallows at night but it's tolerable. A friend had multifocal lenses last year and could not tolerate the hallows had to change lenses. ...Find a surgeon with a good reputation and explore all the options before you decide.

Good advice about a surgeon... also... was the LASER surgery for the scar tissue the YAG capsulotomy?
I had the YAG surgery done on both eyes several weeks following the cataract surgery because of the "diffraction spikes" which were initially in both eyes due to a wrinkle forming (not uncommon) in the eye capsule when the lens was inserted.
It eliminated the diffraction spikes and reduced the starburst effects a lot (which are only in the left eye). Typically tho' a YAG isn't done until much later, maybe years later and then it's for scar tissue.

For those interested... https://www.allan.vu/procedures/yag-capsulotomy/

[Alan Lightstone]

I was one of the first patients in the world to have LASIK done (1996). I actually flew to Toronto to have it done, as it wasn't yet FDA approved in the US.

The reason I bring this up, is that I had starbursts on point sources of nightime light ever since the surgery. Does it bother me - not at all. My brain tunes it out. Most people do. If you said to me, do you see starbursts, I would think for a second, and notice yes. But in every day life, I haven't noticed them in years.

I got 10 years out of my LASIK, then reading glasses ever since. Progressives were by far the best option for me working in the OR with multiple depths of field focusing needed. And I'm very accustomed to them, but many people just can't get used to them. It's a very individual thing.

Will I need cataract surgery at some point? I'm sure. Welcome to Florida. Will I get progressive lenses? Probably not. I really don't have an issue wearing glasses, both progressive sunglasses and regular glasses. 20/10 vision with them. Hard to argue with that.

[Alan Rutherford]

My wife got both eyes done with the $6k special lenses and I got one. Not really happy. She's still using trifocal glasses. I'm having to use glasses (generic reading glasses) more often than I did before.

Speaking for myself: the cataract and yellow tint are gone. Astigmatism is largely gone. It was my dominant right eye and I had switched to my left eye for iton-sights pistol shooting some years ago. I'm still better shooting with my left eye despite significant cataracts and have no plans to get that eye done.

No night vision issues.

I felt these lenses were signifcantly over-hyped.

[Jeff Bartley]

Friday afternoon I had cataract surgery on my left eye.

This morning the world was bright, crisp and in 3D, something it hasn’t been in awhile.

Modern technology really is indistinguishable from magic.

Regards, Rod

Rod! I could not agree more. I had cataract surgery over the winter and it really is a breathtaking difference. Did we talk about cataracts when you were here? I think I had learned about mine the year before you visited.

In my case I opted for the multi focal lenses. As a carpenter I wanted to be able to use good safety glasses or sunglasses onsite so that I did t have to mess with readers. And I’m young for cataracts so I wanted to maximize my vision.

I’ve never been happier to spend a pile of cash on two little lenses. With the exception of really close up work in the shop I never need readers. A do get some weird prisms and starbursts at night but they’re no big deal, they’re actually neat looking sometimes.

Now, the whole truth is that I had my left eye done first and it’s perfect (I’m left eye dominate). My right eye was not good after the the first lens was put in. After some lengthy discussion with the doc we decided the best coarse of action was a lens swap.

If I wasn’t nervous before this (I was extremely nervous) now I was terrified. Many docs won’t even do a lens swap. Luckily that procedure went well but my right eye is still not as good as the left.

Jeff (20/20 left, 20/30 right)

[Patty Hann]

Yep...when you consider that the alternative is eventual blindness, even the surgeries that don't come out anywhere near perfect (and very few do) are still better than not having surgery at all.
Someone mentioned the very early (or first?) cataract surgeries.
THey would remove the clouded lens that was blocking most light, so now light could actually reach the retina, but it was unfocused; no implant technology at the time.
So to get at least some focused images one wore glasses with lenses as thick as coke bottle bottoms. Even then vision wasn't great but, again, better than being totally blind.

Interesting factoid: The cornea (through which is made the incision for removal of the cloudy natural lens and insertion of the new IOL) is the only part of a human body that has no blood supply; it gets oxygen directly through the air.
The cornea is the fastest healing tissue in the human body, thus, most corneal abrasions will heal within 24-36 hours.

[Doug Garson]

Good advice about a surgeon... also... was the LASER surgery for the scar tissue the YAG capsulotomy?
I had the YAG surgery done on both eyes several weeks following the cataract surgery because of the "diffraction spikes" which were initially in both eyes due to a wrinkle forming (not uncommon) in the eye capsule when the lens was inserted.
It eliminated the diffraction spikes and reduced the starburst effects a lot (which are only in the left eye). Typically tho' a YAG isn't done until much later, maybe years later and then it's for scar tissue.

For those interested... https://www.allan.vu/procedures/yag-capsulotomy/

I don't recall the details of the follow up laser procedure. I had some minor blurred vision I think and laser in the surgeon's office was used to clear it up, might not have been scarring.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

At some point in the near future my ophthalmologist will schedule cataract surgery; I have 2 interesting conditions.
Firstly my body doesn’t like being worked upon, and to do things like a simple prostate biopsy had to be done under general anesthesia, and secondly, I hav incipient glaucoma, so they’re hopefully going to use laser surgery to open the drainage ducts in my eyes.
I’ll be going for distance lenses, and be happy to buy readers for my close up work.
Good to hear, Rod. Hope you get to ride a lot this summer.
Aaron

[Rod Sheridan]

Good to hear, Rod. Hope you get to ride a lot this summer.
Aaron

Thanks Aaron, good luck with your surgery, I also am hoping to get some riding in.

Regards, Rod.

[Alan Lightstone]

At some point in the near future my ophthalmologist will schedule cataract surgery; I have 2 interesting conditions.
Firstly my body doesn’t like being worked upon, and to do things like a simple prostate biopsy had to be done under general anesthesia, and secondly, I hav incipient glaucoma, so they’re hopefully going to use laser surgery to open the drainage ducts in my eyes.
I’ll be going for distance lenses, and be happy to buy readers for my close up work.
Good to hear, Rod. Hope you get to ride a lot this summer.
Aaron
Aaron:

Good luck with your surgery. From an anesthesia standpoint it is very boring surgery. Which is about the biggest complement I can give. We love boring.

You'll do fine.

[Rod Sheridan]

Aaron:

Good luck with your surgery. From an anesthesia standpoint it is very boring surgery. Which is about the biggest complement I can give. We love boring.

You'll do fine.

Very true Alan, I wasn’t even aware it had happened until the surgeon removed my mask and said “: You can sit up now”

Regards, Rod

[Rod Sheridan]

Hi Jeff, no we didn’t talk about cataracts, my optometrist hadn’t mentioned them yet.

I
Diann is still putting my eye drops in, another couple of weeks of that to go, then restart for the right eye a week later……Regards, Rod

[Bill Howatt]

I had an aversion to putting in the drops but after a couple of days thought I should be able to do it so I mastered the task.

I was the fastest, and last, patient for the day when I had mine done. IIRC, the surgeon said "just under 5 minutes" fastest one today." Not sure what the start and finish points were in the timing but I didn't take long once they wheeled me in to the room.

[Jim Becker]

I use saline eye drops because of dry eye, so I almost don't have to think about that...it just happens. When I had my surgeries, the eye drops required before and after were no issues.

[Vytas Miknaitis]

I am planning on having cataract surgery mid-summer. I want one eye in distance and one eye close.

Like you Mike, I was 20 last century!:D

Ken, I had LASIK about 20 years ago (am 70ish). I had one eye done closer, one infinity. As I aged, I needed reading glasses. Having non-symmetrical eyes kind of makes getting cheaper readers problematic. Yes, eyes adjust, sort of. Still annoying. I should have gone symmetrical and gone to progressive glasses from the start.
-=-=Vytas

[Patty Hann]

Ken, I had LASIK about 20 years ago (am 70ish). I had one eye done closer, one infinity. As I aged, I needed reading glasses. Having non-symmetrical eyes kind of makes getting cheaper readers problematic. Yes, eyes adjust, sort of. Still annoying. I should have gone symmetrical and gone to progressive glasses from the start.
-=-=Vytas

Pop out the lens that you don't need (pop it out of the glasses, not your eye :eek: :D :rolleyes: )